Dying loaches, what to do

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wickette

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tanks cycle is done (used plants teta safestart all the media from an establish 10g tank, home of roger, my fat 3.5" comet. I bought the entire stock of golden zebra loaches (5), all were small but very active and eating. My the time i gothome 3 hours later, 3 looked dead. while the bag was floating in the tank a 4th went limp, i ad a cop of my ranks water to the bag and rg started vreathes not swimming. Fast fwd...all in the tank cant find 2, the first dead looking one was breathing, he rights himself swim a little flops in his side.
are they gonners or is this stress?

Did i do anything wrong? floated 15min, then added a cup of my water ti he bag, every 10 min remove a uo oftheres and mine,,,
 

fishorama

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Oh dear! What were your tank & the lfs bag water parameters? Did you test both? 3 hours away can mean very different water...

A cup of water every 10 minutes seems too fast an acclimation for my comfort level, but damage done.

Loaches prefer a "well aged, well aerated" tank. I hope they recover for you. Good luck! & frequent water changes "may" help.
 

DefJ123

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For traveling that far, I prob would have done a drip acclimation. They take forever but safe method and easy on fish.

Sorry to hear, hope they recover.
 

wickette

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1)sorry for the horrible typos and grammar, end of a long day, i was falling asleep as i typed

2)I got stuck in a blizzard coming home otherwise its a 17mile trip, usually takes 20-25min. my pH is 6.9, petshop between 7.2-7.4 . Nitrite and ammonia zero in both tanks, I didnt test the other stuff. Should I have?
One loach looked dead/floating sideways 45min into the drive,the other two were looking bad before i floated the bag but went comatose 45min into the acclimating process (after the 3rd cup of water was added)... I asked for a gallon size bag since theres 5 1"-1.5" fish and I will be in traffic.

good news 11hrs later, none are dead, all are staying upright! bad news, aside from the one active guy theyre not really moving (i watched them with dark purple night light and with the lights on, theyll go an inch or 2 but otherwise lay there.
 

wickette

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For traveling that far, I prob would have done a drip acclimation. They take forever but safe method and easy on fish.

Sorry to hear, hope they recover.
So it was me? I shocked them?

(last tank I had a decade ago, I had a gigantic and pristine LFS, literally under 100 feet from my doorstep, same water not enough time for the temp to drop, I didnt even bag them, walked fish home ina small "critter carrier": thus never needed to learn proper acclimation)
 

dougall

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It sounds like they were not doing well in the bag, before they even got to your water, so I wouldn't necessarily be so sore it was only the acclimation (likely didn't help terribly much though)

How did you keep them warm for the drive home? and how were they packed in the bag? how much was water, how much air, etc.
 

wickette

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all in one 48oz bag, half full. (1" -1.5" each). They were super active in the store. They were kept double bagged, and in a shopping bag tied off. I kept the heat on in the car and the bag wrapped in my coat once i realized i wasnt getting home in 20min. I specifically had my wife turn off the heater on the tank and take the lid off so the water cools. The bag water wasnt too much colder by the time I got home.

Anything I can do for them now? The sickliest one just random tilt over onto its side, breaths heavily then gets back, tilts over, etc
 

FreshyFresh

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Sorry about your issues! It's hard to say with store bought fish. They could have been kept in tank water with excessive nitrates, not fed properly and were subjected to other stresses, disease, etc.

A pH swing or other large parameter difference between the store water and your water can do it as well.

Like fishorama said, many fish like loaches seem to do better when introduced into a healthy tank that's been setup for a long time.
 

wickette

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2 have recovered, 2 are still just hiding, cant find the sickly one, Im leaving the tank alone lights off to avoid more stress hopefully #5 isnt dead and rotting


This was the first time any store by me had this many gold zebras, I bought all 5.My tank has been cycling for 10 weeks, I considered it a controlled risk. I dont think its my water. Something went wrong on rout or I shocked them. I doubt this fish have been at the store for more than a few days, they dont quarantine and when I go every 2 weeks they have completely different fish in their tanks.
 
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wickette

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ok last update, all but one started swimming around. Low and behold my 5 golden zebra loaches were 2 yoyo loaches, 2 golden zebra loaches, 1 dwarf chain loach. So back to the store they went, got 4 bleeding heart tetras. problem solved.
 
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